HELP! Fire station alerting, redux

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Tue May 02, 2006 11:50 am

HELP!

I posted a few questions regarding two-tone decoders awhile back. The FedSig Informer seemed to be the best unit for the job... however, after them losing our order once (after waiting two weeks) then telling us it was going to be another four weeks to get a new unit shipped, screw them. I refuse to do business with a company that's too good to put up with small users like me (damn, sounds like Motorola.)

So, I'm looking for another solution. Requirements:
Decode up to 4 pairs of two-tone sequences/long tones
VHF synthesized (154MHz)
Able to decode PL on top of two-tone (we've got a co-channel user who decided to pick our tones... that's another story.)
Relay output to activate AC lighting
Audio output to speakers
End-user programmable
Simple - not too many buttons to punch.
Battery backup would be nice.
Auto reset after a predefined period.

I'd like to go with a dedicated unit. So far, I know of the Informer (no) and the Veetronix (not enough tonesets). Anything else out there?

Of course, we need this yesterday.

Thanks.

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:18 pm

The CDM will do everything except four seperate two-tone pairs. The Kenwood x180 radios are the same. Neither will do four completely custom pairs.

What are the exact tones you need to do and I will see if either can do it. These two radios are probably the most flexible with two-tone paging so if they can't, I doubt any mobile radio will.

The alternative would be a Minitor V in an amplifier charger that has the contacts. It can do 4 custom tones I think.

Post by **alex** » Tue May 02, 2006 12:36 pm

The minitor will work for what you want to do with the correct stand. I recomend finding some way to permantly attach the pager to the stand. That would be my suggestion. People who don't better will put them on their belt... and we all know where the pagers go from there.

I know a lot of people who have wired up alert systems based on older Minitor II pager bases, and they have always worked reliably, I have not heard about the minitor 3/4/5 ones, but i have ordered them and haven't gotten heard a word of negitivity.

-Alex

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Tue May 02, 2006 1:02 pm

I added one more requirement... auto reset.

Matt-
First, I refuse to buy CDMs. I've seen too many broken, and they're crap. I've got 4 or 5 sitting around in various failure states... we've been tearing them out and replacing them with 7180Hs when they fail (not that much more money to buy a new 7180H than fix a CDM.)

I've got 10 TK7180s sitting in a box right now (grants are wonderful things), but that's too much radio and too many buttons. Simple is the order of the day.

An M5 isn't an option because amplified chargers aren't available yet. And, no auto reset. Ditto the 2/3/4s.

Unfortuantely, the Informer is pretty much exactly what I want. I'd just like something comparable that isn't sold by Federal. It doesn't look like I'm going to find it.

K8TEK · Post by **K8TEK** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:09 pm

The minitor 2 and 3 dont do pl either! I don't know about the 4 or 5

Post by **alex** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:11 pm

Tim -

Good point. Didn't think of that.

Terry - Looks like you'll have to suck it up

. The 3/4/5 might have a software option that might allow for a reset - however, I don't think this resets the basestation itself.

-Alex

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:14 pm

The 4 and 5 don't either... two-tone decode only. Fortunately, the pagers lack a real antenna, thus we don't have too much interaction from the co-channel user.

MassFD · Post by **MassFD** » Tue May 02, 2006 2:50 pm

Matt-
First, I refuse to buy CDMs. I've seen too many broken, and they're crap. I've got 4 or 5 sitting around in various failure states... we've been tearing them out and replacing them with 7180Hs when they fail (not that much more money to buy a new 7180H than fix a CDM.)

If you have problems with the CDM's do not even think of using any of using the Minitor 3,4 or 5. We have about 40 CDM 1250's in service with no problems, wish I cound say the same about the Minitors.

I do not think the CDM can do auto reset and it only has 1 avaiable output so it will not do what you want. The Minitor 5 will do timed reset for the audio but will not auto reset the relay in the charger amp that you would use for the station lights.

Looks like you will have to keep looking or build something external to a CDM or Minitor to do the timing

tvsjr · Post by **tvsjr** » Tue May 02, 2006 3:10 pm

MassFD wrote:If you have problems with the CDM's do not even think of using any of using the Minitor 3,4 or 5. We have about 40 CDM 1250's in service with no problems, wish I cound say the same about the Minitors.

We have the opposite luck. We've got about a dozen M3s, M4s, and M5s in service now with no issues (barring members having stupid fits). We've got a box of 15 brand-new M5s waiting to be programmed... no problems.

Plus, the M5 is the only pager that will do what we need (alerting on two channels).

Looks like we may be dealing with Federal and their horrendous pre-sales support anyway...

nmfire10 · Post by **nmfire10** » Tue May 02, 2006 7:00 pm

I don't blame for the CDM thing.

The x180's complexity shouldn't be an issue if this thing is sitting in a closet doing nothing but decoding tones. It doesn't require the user to do anything.